2009 World Winter Games PDL: SO FESTIVAL

1. 2009 World Winter Games PDL: SO FESTIVAL • Functional Area Lead Team Members: • Heather Hill, VP Marketing & Communications • Melanie Simboli, Co-Commissioner, SO Festival • Sam Sandmire, Co-Commissioner, SO Festival I. Plan II. Do III. Learn • Overview/Purpose: • Design and implement a community-driven event that creates a central gathering place and encourages people of all ages and interests to get involved with the World Winter Games. • Goals & Objectives: • Design overall Festival to be a family friendly event with a variety of activities and entertainment. • Create opportunities for sponsor involvement and support. • Incorporate Special Olympics athletes into the programming of the Festival and create opportunities for attendees to meet athletes. • Promote the SO Festival as a central hub of activity during the Games to build excitement and encourage attendance not only at the Festival, but at all Games-related events. • Create a synergy between the SO Festival and the SO Sports Experience to help drive traffic between the two. • Key Responsibilities: • Develop and manage budget within given parameters. • Source venue(s) for Festival(s) and coordinate all permits and requirements for vendors and activities at the venue. • Determine best days and hours of operation for Festival based on community access, Games events and anticipated attendance. • Source support for Festival infrastructure (e.g. set-up, tear-down, tents, heating, power, lighting, staging, etc.). • Source production support and acts for Festival entertainment. • Lead decision making for appropriate entertainment and activity lineup at the Festival. • Assist in designing event flow and timeline for Festival. • Recruit volunteer staffing for on-site Festival coordination. • Train volunteer staff for variety of Festival-specific tasks. • Help manage relations with sponsors (in conjunction with DEVT Dept) pertaining to their activities, presence and participation. • Coordinate scripting for PA announcements at Festival to address key Games messaging and sponsor recognition. • Assist with promotion of the Festival leading up to the Games. • Work with MKTG & COMM and DEVT Depts to design “look” of the Festival and ensure appropriate messaging and sponsor recognition. • External Resources: • Steve Fulton – Contracted for Main Stage production management • All Phases Productions – Contracted for full production, talent management and ticketing services for Benefit Concerts • Tates Rents – Contracted for Festival infrastructure: tents, power, lighting, heat, propane, set-up, tear-down, etc. • Citadel Broadcasting – Radio partner • Various Vendors – Entertainment and décor primarily • Legacy: • Establish a format and/or structure for future Special Olympics Festivals that promotes community involvement, sponsor engagement, education, entertainment and opportunities to grow support for the Special Olympics movement. • Schedules/Timelines: • Co-Commissioners for Festival hired seven months prior to Games. • Sponsors confirmed participation three months prior to Games. • Production support for entertainment confirmed seven months prior to Games to plan entertainment line-up for Main Stage. • Infrastructure support (e.g. tent vendor, etc.) for Festival confirmed three weeks prior to Games. • Pre-promotion of Benefit Concerts and Festival began six weeks prior to Games. • Components: • “Flame of Hope” Cauldron • Sponsor & Vendor Activity Booths • “Festival Tour Punch Card” Game • Live Music & Entertainment • Radio Broadcasting Partner • Sponsor Mascots and other local mascots • Signature Wall for community to sign • Food & Beverage Vendors (no alcohol permitted) • Benefit Concerts in Boise and Sun Valley (separate production) • Fireworks in McCall (venue and show were donated) • Sports Experience – not within Festival – but adjacent to Festival so the two events inherently shared traffic and participation. • Successes: • Estimated 10,000 people attended the SO Festival over three days. • Sponsor and vendor feedback has been extremely positive based on attendance and opportunities for them to engage with attendees. • Volunteers, spectators and entertainers reported very positive experiences relative to their involvement with the Festival. • Sponsors who took advantage of the Pin Trading opportunity were very pleased with the interest and activity. • The “Festival Tour Punch Card” successfully drove traffic to sponsor booths and created a fun incentive opportunity for attendees. • Placing the Festival venue in a central location which was also adjacent to Sports Experience and the Figure Skating competition venue helped drive cross-traffic between the three events. • Radio partner provided emcee talent and strong promotional value with live broadcasts onsite, and promos leading up to the Festival. • Downtown Boise parking saw a 23% increase during the Games. • Sponsor mascots were a huge hit with all attendees and created fun photo opportunities. • The Main Stage offered a strong focal point for live music, entertainment and various announcements. • Having the “Flame of Hope” cauldron in the center of the Festival drew interest from the community and the media. • Official Games Merchandise Store at the Festival had constant traffic and sold out of most merchandise each day. • Ice sculpture/bench of the Games logo became a popular photo opportunity for attendees at the Festival. • All entertainers at the Festival donated their time=costs minimal. • Festival volunteers performed double duty when sponsors had unanticipated needs. • Challenges: • Marketing Department took over complete management of sponsor participation and support due to lack of support by DEVT Dept. • In addition to poor economic conditions, lack of resources to create a “visualization” schematic of the Festival may have inhibited further sponsorship opportunities for the Festival. • Initial promise of a VIK production partner fell through after months of waiting for their plans, so planning was delayed sin • Production costs of benefit concert in Sun Valley were prohibitive to the concert actually generating net revenues for the Games. • Delay in DOD bid announcement forced delay in selecting expo/tent infrastructure vendor and backed Festival staff into a corner from a planning and budgeting standpoint. • Finding/scheduling Global Messengers to speak was challenging, and USA Team did not attend McCall Festival for speaking opportunity. • Key Learnings: • Creating a central hub of activity that is easily accessible and family friendly provides opportunities for education and engagement. • The opening weekend day realized the greatest traffic/attendance. • Choice of talent for the Benefit Concert could have a broader appeal and production company extended budget significantly. • Local businesses were not receptive to get involved much before 30 days prior to the Games, but at Games-time interest increased. • Recommendations: • Continue the “expo style” Festival at future World Games and consider engaging an expo/event company to manage overall infrastructure, production and sponsorship sales for the Festival. • Position Festival venue in an easily accessible and inherently central hub of activity if possible. • Schedule Festival over a minimum of two weekend days if possible. • Cross-promote SO Festival and Sports Experience or incorporate Sports Experience into the Festival structure and promotion. • Structure complete sponsorship packages (e.g. Title, Presenting or otherwise) for the Festival as its own event and formalize fee structure for interested booth vendors. • Incorporate a celebrity element into the Festival to drive attendance. • Structure a turn-key Pin Trading participation opportunity for interested businesses and sponsors. • Design data capture point at Festival as an added-value benefit for potential sponsors and a means of future communications from SOI. • Create a complete marketing plan around Pin Trading for general public and schedule designated times where athletes can participate in this activity with a greater number of people from the community. • A Community Relations role in the MKTG Dept may be key in engaging local businesses earlier on with a turnkey program. • Budget – Planned vs. Actual • Planned - $202,000 (includes total expenses plus staffing) • Actual - $122,655 (includes total expenses less concert revenues) • Total Festival Expenses – $89,332.21 • Total Benefit Concert Expenses – $112,847.91 • Total Benefit Concert Ticket Revenues – $76, 197.65 • Variance <$79,345> under budget